Traitor
by LadySophieKitty
Summary: They say hindsight is twenty twenty.No one knows this better than Peter Pettigrew,Marauder turned bad and everyones favorite traitor.The war is over,and he is minutes away from confronting his biggest fear–death. Why are all of these memories coming?


Traitor

Summery-They say hindsight is twenty/twenty. No one knows this better than Peter Pettigrew, Marauder-turned-bad and everyone's favorite traitor. The war is over, and he is minutes away from confronting his biggest fear – death. Why are all of these memories coming up?

He's staring at me. Him, the boy whose life I made a living hell. The boy whose parents I killed.

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

The boy who had just defeated the darkest wizard The Wizarding World had ever known. I trembled in fear, I tried to look away, look at anything but the face that bore a visable mark of my cowardice but I couldn't. And this time, it wasn't because fear had paralyzed me. No, it's because I am a prisoner of war. A captive. The only other prisoners are Severus and Bellatrix. Everyone else has been killed; a few escaped. But only a few.

I slump forward a little, rattling the chains that attach me to this cold, cold wall. I could guess why I was here. The few of us imprisoned in the room have each killed an important person in Harry's life. Bella had killed Sirius, My long-ago friend, Severus had taken Dumbledore, and I had caused the most painful and harming loss, the loss Lily and James. He was here for revenge.

"Please don't kill me," I whisper. Death. A thing I have feared my whole life. The reason I had joined Voldemort's ranks in the first place. My whole life had been dominated by the idea that it was better to kill someone else and save, then to save another person and die. But then again, I'm not the hero in the story. Never have been. James had; Lily had; and now Harry was. They were heroes- people who risk their lives for others. I had envied their courage, the self-sacrifice they possessed.

"Look at me," Harry says coolly, the power in his tone making me obey. I look up obediently, and immediately regret it.

_"Admit it, Lily; I'm never going to get this down," I groaned loudly, tossing a text book aside. "I'm going to fail the NEWTs and be the failure everyone expects me to be." I knew I was acting like a child, but I didn't care. _

_"You are _not_ going to fail, Peter. But you are if you don't try." Deep under Lily's patience I could hear a hint of exasperation. That wasn't the first time I had complained, and that wasn't the first time she had responded optimistically. _

_"Just give it up, Lily. It's helpless," James commented. He looked bored. Lily had made him come along and help me since he was good at school, but all he had done was watch with glazed eyes and make comments every now and then._

_"If you don't have anything nice to say, Potter, don't say anything at all. Or better yet, leave," Lily said, sounding irritated this time. I was a bit surprised, though. Lily hadn't called James 'Potter' since they started going out a few months ago. _

_"Finally. I thought you would never say that." James gathered up his untouched textbooks and left._

_"Don't listen to him. It isn't that hard, really. You just need to be optimistic. And concentrate harder. We'll take it a little at a time," Lily soothed. _

I look away. It's his eyes, eyes that are so like _hers_ that make that happen. I won't make that mistake again.

Mistakes. My life is filled with them. They say that the more mistakes you make, the more you learn, but it seems to be the exact opposite for me. The more mistakes I made, the less I learned. Lily had been so patient with me, repeating things using different wording and methods until I got it, gently correcting me until I got it right. It was because of her I did well on my NEWTs. Even then, Lily would have made a good mother. But I had denied her that right. It was because of my good score that I was allowed in the Order. I had been happy in the Order. But then, _they_ came.

_I was making quesadillas in the kitchen of my flat, humming happily. Life was good. I felt important at last, and I was doing something useful. I was just about to toss my quesadilla onto my plate, chef style, when I heard something move behind me. I squeaked nervously, sounding like the rat I was sometimes, and the quesadilla dropped to the floor. That was the only part I didn't like about being in the Order: the risk. The dangers._

_"Hello, Pettigrew," a voice sneered. I flinched. I knew this voice only too well. Oh, Merlin, if I had to be killed by any Death Eater, why did it have to be Bellatrix Lestrange? She was ruthless. It was almost as bad as being killed by Voldemort. "I've been meaning to talk to you for a while."_

_"T-t-talk?" I stuttered. _Torture, you mean_. But I didn't say anything. I didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. _

_"Yes. The Dark Lord seems to think you'll be useful in some ways. I don't see any way how, but if there is one thing I have learned, it is to never defy the Dark Lord." The last sentence was said like a warning. _

_I gulped. I should have told Bella no. I should have admitted to her as well as myself I wasn't cut out for that sort of thing. _

I should have died that night. I shouldn't have killed Lily. Lily, who did everything for me, look how I repaid her, with betrayal. I can see the many, the infinite mistakes I made now. I wonder if she knew I betrayed her, in the last moments of her life. I wonder if she knew what I'd done. I wonder if she regretted any of the help that she had given me at all.

"You deserve to die," Harry said after a long pause. And suddenly death, the thing I had feared all my life, didn't seem so bad. How could I live now, knowing what I had done? How could I live, knowing all those people I killed, all my friends gone because of me? And most importantly, how could I live in a world where it was either kill or be killed?

"But I'm not going to kill you," Harry says, interrupting my train of thought. "There is enough blood on _my_ hands already. No, the honor is going to be done by someone who you hurt just as much." Remus Lupin, my only remaining 'friend' from my school years, enters the room, wand raised, a determined look on his face. Ready, Harry?" He said, pointing his want straight at me. Harry nods, sealing my doom. Strangely, death has never seemed so sweet.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Forgive me.

A/N- I have to say, this was one of the hardest things I've ever written. I know it isn't that great, but it was the best I could do. Please review! And I know it was a bit boring, but Wormtail was doing a lot of reflecting.


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